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Re: So, old people on this board, how do you deal knowing you will die soon?

Originally Posted by camisadelgolf

I just threw out half a pack of cigarettes last night. I'm going to give it another shot.

U da man. I'd buy ya a Diet Pepsi if I could lol. I'm far from a saint myself, but (relative to the title of this thread) you and I need to walk a bit more cautiously than others. It isn't easy, but it is about self-discipline IMO. Or as Nancy Reagan once said, "Just say no." I recently had to go gluten-free as well. Pretty soon they will hand me a freakin' IV and tell me to enjoy my lunch. But there are a lot worse things to have (cancer, tumor, HIV, etc). We just have to control ourselves. Good thing females are still on the diet... I think that is a good thing?!?

Re: So, old people on this board, how do you deal knowing you will die soon?

Originally Posted by marcshoe

Unfortunately, no. Things have repeatedly come up in conversation that show that people assume I'm younger than I am, at times even with people I've known for ten years. I've also had several people not believe me and had to show them my drivers licence. This is a problem when I meet people I used to know; I have never really changed the way I look, but I rarely recognize others.My mind has gone.

Notice that I haven't said looking the way I used to is a good thing. I'd rather look like a handsome older person than a geeky thirty-something.

This is a genetic thing. My sister, who is in her mid-thirties, began work in a school last year and was repeatedly asked by teachers why she wasn't in class.

Same with me and I am in a business that its not good to look so young. I got asked to see an ID at Wal-Mart the other day when wanting to buy NyQuil. The girl couldn't believe that I had a child 21. I get that at least weekly...."YOU have KIDS 21, 18, and 13"?

It is genetic with me also. My Mom once called a hotel my Dad stays at a lot looking for him (cell phone not charged or something) and asked some questions that would describe him. The guy said there is a guy in his 30s staying there that met the description. My Dad was probably 55 at the time.

Tim McCarver: Baseball Quotes
I remember one time going out to the mound to talk with Bob Gibson. He told me to get back behind the batter, that the only thing I knew about pitching was that it was hard to hit.

Re: So, old people on this board, how do you deal knowing you will die soon?

Originally Posted by RedFanAlways1966

U da man. I'd buy ya a Diet Pepsi if I could lol. I'm far from a saint myself, but (relative to the title of this thread) you and I need to walk a bit more cautiously than others. It isn't easy, but it is about self-discipline IMO. Or as Nancy Reagan once said, "Just say no." I recently had to go gluten-free as well. Pretty soon they will hand me a freakin' IV and tell me to enjoy my lunch. But there are a lot worse things to have (cancer, tumor, HIV, etc). We just have to control ourselves. Good thing females are still on the diet... I think that is a good thing?!?

I'm with ya.

I have to brag a little bit. In the past year, I've started to do a lot of things differently and have been living a completely different lifestyle. I don't drink anymore; I eat organic; I exercise frequently; I've lost over 20 pounds; and I overcame my ice cream and Skyline addictions (but once every month or two is still okay). I'm in the best shape of my life, and my mind is more clear than ever. At some point, it just hit me that I should invest more into my future. Oh, and of course the best benefit has been the extra attention from the ladies. I've always had lines out the door, but now they're wrapping around the corner.

Re: So, old people on this board, how do you deal knowing you will die soon?

I am certainly not old yet, but I feel the effects of age. My feet hurt, I am not as strong as I used to be, my eyesight deteriorates at an alarming rate, my wife says I snore more. However, I have found that all is not lost and that things like strength are surprisingly easy to build, provided one can find time in a busy life to workout. Moreover, there are is a lot to be said for what aging does in our favor an I have found there are a lot of things about youth that I am happy to have left behind; impatience, hubris, ego, to name a few.

Re: So, old people on this board, how do you deal knowing you will die soon?

There is not an unending supply of the days and the moments. The key is to utilize them to the best of your ability.
Don’t just let them slip away. Capture them, like we capture the seasons. There is only so many. In ninety years, you only have ninety spring times. If some guy says, you know ‘I got twenty more years.’ You say, ‘no. You got twenty more times.’ …. Not that I have a whole twenty more years, but just twenty more times. How valuable do I want to make these twenty times.”

Re: So, old people on this board, how do you deal knowing you will die soon?

I have a heart condition....a brain aneurysm...I live each day on the edge and as fully as I can. I don't dwell on when...just on now. I was young in my own time and enjoyed the hell out of life. Great kids with terrific grandkids...good friends made through the years and savored now, all the more appreciated for their possible finality. Time lies stretched forever in my past where the memories seem endless. Time ahead seems compressed into fleeting moments that fly away faster than I am aware they occur. Its perception...each hour is the same as always but each one so much less a part of my total experience they seem diminished in length. It gives me patience for things that once seemed too painstaking or slow...not that I am more patient...only my perception of time has sped up as I have slowed down. Now if I spend a full hour just rapt watching my youngest grandson at play it only seems a nonce. I can enjoy things I was always in too big a rush to see before. Paradox, huh? I am not afraid...hell...I hope you have as rich and full a life and that morning you awake and realize you are 60 or 70 and youth has jilted you (without warning and all at once it seems) that you enjoy fully the new stage you've entered. Not "near death" but "heightened life".

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Re: So, old people on this board, how do you deal knowing you will die soon?

I get ribbed a lot by other coworkers, on an automotive assembly line which is hard work, about being the "old guy". I'm about to turn 57, and there's only one other guy in the area older then me.

But I also get complimented by some too because they don't understand how I can be so "old", and yet, have such a high energy level and still out-work a majority of those young whippersnappers who are always complaining about their aches and pains, or running to medical for massage therapy.

We got our yearly performance evals this week, and while a majority were getting "Meets Expectations" (some complained too), I once again got an "Exceeds Expectations". My supervisor was very complimentary, and told me he wish he had more associates, with such a solid work ethic, like me. I take great pride (not arrogance) in that.

But I tell some of the younger ones who like to hit me up with old people jokes.... "Come see me in 20 years, and lets hope you look this good at 57!"

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Re: So, old people on this board, how do you deal knowing you will die soon?

Originally Posted by redsmetz

It's a wonder each morning you wake up. Our society sells us a bill of goods, if you will, especially over the last 50 years or so, telling us that only youth matters. Life matters and each day, again, is a wonder. I don't fear death, I enjoy life and am grateful to have every breath I'll get. And while I have a particular religious faith, I don't think that's essential for one to have those beliefs. It's all a gift.

This is wonderful, redsmetz. Thank you. I'm 37 and I think at this age it is so helpful to remember that there are more important things than the career you have and the money you make. Your words help me focus on what matters. It's sometimes hard in these economic times.

"Iíll kind of have a foot on the back of my own butt. Thatís just how I do things.Ē -- Bryan Price, 10/22/2013

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